Pompeii wasn’t picked by likelihood. Credit score: ClemMtravel. Shuttersotck
Pompeii is again within the highlight due to Pink Floyd. The legendary British band has simply launched Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII (2025 Combine), an album that lastly brings to file their legendary 1971 efficiency within the historical Roman amphitheatre.
Filmed and not using a reside viewers and surrounded by ruins, the live performance is now out there in restored audio kind, greater than 50 years later.
Shot in October 1971 and initially launched as a movie in 1972, Pink Floyd: Dwell at Pompeii, directed by Adrian Maben, was a one-of-a-kind experiment: a rock band taking part in in an empty amphitheatre in-built 70 BC, with solely the wind and stone partitions as their viewers. The volcanic metropolis, buried for hundreds of years beneath ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, offered an unforgettable backdrop.
The newly launched album contains ten restored tracks from that session, together with each elements of the epic Echoes, in addition to Certainly one of These Days, A Saucerful of Secrets and techniques, and Set the Controls for the Coronary heart of the Solar. Followers additionally get handled to uncommon bonus tracks: an alternate model of Cautious with That Axe, Eugene and a full, unedited take of A Saucerful of Secrets and techniques. There’s even Mademoiselle Nobs, a unusual reside tackle Seamus, that includes the howling of a Borzoi canine combined with the band’s harmonicas — recorded later in a Paris studio however a part of the identical dreamy ambiance.
Pompeii wasn’t picked by likelihood. Director Adrian Maben got here up with the concept after dropping his passport whereas on vacation within the ruins. Allowed again in alone to seek for it at night time, he wandered the empty web site in silence. “It was eerie — simply the sound of nature. That’s when it hit me: this may be the right place for Pink Floyd,” he recalled. The passport was by no means discovered, however the imaginative and prescient for the movie was born.
The shoot wasn’t straightforward. Technical hiccups, dodgy electrics, and allow points made issues difficult, however the closing product blended music, visuals, and a deep sense of place like nothing earlier than it. Half live performance movie, half artwork challenge, Dwell at Pompeii grew to become a cult basic — and now, this album launch offers it a brand new lease of life.
A 4K restoration of the unique footage, shot on 35mm, hit cinemas on 24 April and has already taken in over $6.4 million worldwide. As soon as once more, Italy finds itself on the centre of a cultural second, simply because it did when 4 British musicians turned an historical damage right into a stage again in 1971.
Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII isn’t simply an album — it’s a time capsule. It fuses the traditional world with the psychedelic rock period, proving that even centuries-old stones can nonetheless echo with sound.
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